THEN AND NOW

JRCATAn Innovative Research Organization
and Its Present Status
Kazunobu Tanaka

Atom Technology Project

the beginning of the 1990s, when Japanese

signed in response to the various demands,

The Atom Technology Project wasindustries were enjoying an extended busi-

as a basic R&D program involving intense

started in the 1992 fiscal year as one of theness boom owing to the persistence of thejoint efforts on the part of the key threeprojects managed by a quasi-government or-

bubble economy. Following extensive invest-

sectors: industry, government and academia;

ganization, the New Energy and Industrial

ment in basic research and the recruitment

and, to implement these new initiatives, theTechnology Development Organizationof competent R&D personnel during the pre-National Institute for Advanced Interdiscipli-(NEDO), and sponsored by the Ministry ofvious decade, industry was becoming confi-

nary Research (NAIR) and the Joint ResearchInternational Trade and Industry (MITI), withdent its ability to create and develop tech-Center for Atom Technology (JRCAT) werea planned total budget of 25 billion yen for

nologies using its own resources. It was evenfounded.

10 years. The Project is a basic research pro-claimed that national research institutes weregram aimed at the establishment of tech-

no longer necessary, except in the fields ofnologies to identify and manipulate indi-

the environment and energy, thanks to theThe Atom Technology Project involves

vidual atoms and molecules, and expectedvitality of the private sector. On the other hand,a number of innovations. All the R&D work

to be positioned as a generic technology toforeign countries were increasingly criticizing

is carried out centrally by scientists of dif-

underlie various industrial fields, such as new

application development projects in Japan,

ferent affiliations and backgrounds gatheredmaterials, electronics and biotechnology.

through the joint efforts of government andtogether in NAIR. Researchers are invited

In Phase I, spanning 6 years to fiscal year

the private sector, because of the perceived

from industry, national laboratories and uni-(FY) 1997, R&D efforts were concentrated

Japanese “free ride” on Western-generated

versities to undertake tripartite joint research.

on elementary and supporting technologies,

basic technologies.

A number of legal barriers had to be over-while in Phase II, beginning in FY 1998, theIn these circumstances, MITI decided tocome in order to make it possible for scien-

project has been oriented towards more spe-

reorganize the national research institutes

tists from the industrial and academic sec-cific targets, the study areas being more fo-

and shift R & D work towards basic researchtors to work in NAIR, a national institute.

cused.

in order to meet the requirements of the new

The research organization for realizingage. The Atom Technology Project was de-the tripartite joint research is illustrated sche-

Let us look back at the situation around18JSAPI*

Organization of JRCAT

JSAP International No.1 (January 2000)

Page 1801.3.19, 1:26 PM

Adobe PageMaker 6.5J/PPC

Figure 1.
Organization chart representing JRCAT (Joint Research Center for Atom technology) andits related organizations; AIST (Agency of Industrial Science & Technology); NEDO (NewEnergy & Industrial Technology Development Organization); NAIR (National Institute forAdvanced Interdisciplinary Research); ATP (Angstrom Technology Partnership); RAB( Research Association for Biotechnology)

matically in Figure 1. The core of the joint

mental organization aimed at eliminating

lation of Atoms and Molecules”. The

research organization consists of NAIR and

two major drawbacks inherent in more con-

Tokumoto group and the Ishikawa groupa technological research consortium, theventional organizations in Japan: those ofcover this area, which deals with the imag-

Angstrom Technology Partnership (ATP). Sci-“vertical division” and “delayed decision-ing and identification of atoms and self-as-

entists from private enterprises are loanedmaking”.

sembled monolayers, and of DNA molecules,

to the ATP; those from national institutes

As of June 1999, JRCAT includes 10

under MITI or other ministries are concur-

R&D groups (8 experimental and 2 theoreti-

Field 2 investigates “Formation andrently appointed to NAIR; and universities arecal) and 104 research scientists originating

Control of Nanostructures at Surfaces andeither appointed to NAIR or to ATP. In orderfrom the following institutes: 25 from ATP

Interfaces”. Four groups, namely those ofto guarantee equal partnership among the(with 30 member firms), 25 from national

Ichikawa, Ozeki, Kanayama and Yamasaki,

researchers, a joint research contract was

research institutes, 12 from universities (3are dedicated to this field. The aim is to es-signed by NAIR and ATP, and all the research-professors and 9 students) and 42

tablish technologies for the preparation,ers engaged in research activity work in thepostdoctoral researchers (including 20 for-measurement and characterization of 10-nm

laboratories of NAIR under a unified R&D en-eigners). The unified budget management

sized nanostructures.

tity, namely the Joint Research Center fore n a b l e s J R C AT t o o p e r a t e i t s o w n

Field 3, “Spin Electronics”, is a top pri-Atom Technology (JRCAT). This approach

postdoctoral invitation program, called theority area based on the results of Phase I stud-

has the following merits: (1) the most ap-

JRCAT fellowship.

ies. Two groups are engaged in this area:

respectively.

the Tokura group is attempting to clarify thepropriate scientists can be selected from any

background physics underlying the magnetic

affiliation, and (2) quick and flexible deci-

Focused Fields
and Research Groupssion-making is facilitated by the single man-

The four focused Phase II fields and the re-perovskite-type transition metal oxides andagement of a project leader endowed withsearch groups in charge of the work at JRCAT

to explore for potential applications, while

plenary power.

are described below.

the Tamura group pursues research into spin-

Field 1 concerns “Identification and Manipu-

polarized scanning tunnelling microscopy

sector without being hindered by barriers ofIn short, JRCAT is an ambitious, experi-and electronic phase transitions inJSAP International No.1 (January 2000)

JSAPI*

Page 1901.3.19, 1:26 PM

Adobe PageMaker 6.5J/PPC19

Si(001)-2x1(a)2x1

Figure 2.
Scanning reflection electron
microscope (SREM) images of theSi(001) surfaces before and after
oxidation: (a) initial Si(001)-(2x1)
surface; (b) first contrast reversal
corresponding to oxidation ofuppermost dangling bonds and thefirst subsurface layer; and (c)corresponding to oxidation of second
subsurface layer (Watanabe et al., Phys.
Rev. Lett. 80, 345 (1998)).

Si(001)-2x1

1x2
500 nmRT. 3min(b)(c)+R.T. 15min+635˚C 17min

2 ML oxide(STM) and scanning electron microscopy

ference proceedings excluded), the number

ration with theory groups: two such ex-(SEM).

of invited lectures in international confer-amples are outlined below.

Field 4, “Theoretical Analysis of Dy-ences and the number of patents filed, areWatanabe et al. and Fujita et al. of thenamic Processes of Atoms and Molecules”,

listed for different fiscal years. These results

JRCAT Ichikawa group have intensively stud-

is studied by the Terakura and Uda groups,

were presented in 15 or so symposia andied layer-by-layer the oxidation of Si(111) andwhich carry out joint research with experi-workshops, both large and small in scale,Si(001) surfaces in an ultrahigh vacuum sys-mental groups based on the calculation ofheld by JRCAT. Of these meetings, 11 weretem using scanning reflection electron mi-electronic states from first principles.

international. That JRCAT could hold socroscopy (SREM) and x-ray photoelectron

In summary, the Atom Technology

many international meetings was due to thespectroscopy. Through detailed analyses ofProject covers a broad are a of

NAIR Foreign Researcher Invitation Program,

SREM images in combination with XPS datananotechnology, embracing the identifica-

which allows the invitation of 20 or so re-they have demonstrated that the periodic

tion of atoms and molecules, their manipu-

searchers per year from overseas to attend

reversal of the terrace contrast in the SREM

lation and spin control, thus providing notworkshops.

images (see Fig.2) corresponds crucially to

only a firm foundation for nanotechnology

For the first 6 years of Phase I, the ma-layer-by-layer oxidation of the Si(001) sur-but also creating a new paradigm for mate-terials of interest have included semiconduc-face. They have also found indications that,rials science.

tors (Si, II-VI, III-V, amorphous), organic sub-at low temperatures below 200°C, oxida-

stances including biomolecules, magnetic

tion of the first subsurface layer (i.e., back-thin films and transition metal oxides, whilebond oxidation) and oxygen chemisorption

Some of the results achieved by thethe underlying technologies and phenom-

onto the top layer is barrierless, whereas sec-

Project in the five years of Phase I since sub-ena range from atomic manipulation, not

ond-layer oxidation proceeds as a thermally-

stantial start R&D work was started in FY

only on the solid surface but also in three-activated process. For the back-bond oxida-

1993 are summarized in Table 1. In particu-

dimensional free space, to phase transitions

tion of the Si(001) surface, Kato et al. of thelar, the number of scientific papers arisingin strongly correlated electron systems. SomeUda group of JRCAT have provided comple-

from JRCAT (original papers only, with con-of the work was carried out in close collabo-

mentary theoretical confirmation based on

R&D Activities

20JSAPI*

1 ML oxide

JSAP International No.1 (January 2000)

Page 2001.3.19, 1:26 PM

Adobe PageMaker 6.5J/PPC

(a) Publications

FY93

FY94

FY95

FY96

FY97Nature-

1212Scieince--12-

PRL-

-

11610APL-

271522PRB

1571618

JJAP

35946Total

242893120103(b) Invited Talks

310254474(c) Patents Filed-

10 (0)

26 (3)

22 (1)

26 (8)

PRL : Phys. Rev. Lett., APL : Appl. Phys. Lett., PRB : Phys. Rev. B, JJAP : Jpn J. Appl. Phys.

Table 1.
Research output from JRCAT: (a) publications in scientific journals (proceedings papers not included), (b) invited talks atinternational conferences, (c) patents filed; numbers in parentheses represent overseas patents.

groups are collaborating effectively within

ab initio calculations.
The Tokura group aims to explore newelectronic materials and the related physics

the centralized joint research system ofJRCAT.

for the development of atom technology. In
fact, Tokura and his coworkers have dem-sphere rarely seen in Japan.
It must be admitted, though, that where
there is light there is shade, so our organization is not yet perfect. Still, it may be re-Concluding Remarks

garded as an important a managerial experi-

onstrated over the past five years that insu-

The Phase I studies of the Atom Tech-ment in preparation for the revolutionary

lator-metal transitions, with regard to mag-nology Project were completed within 6changes expected to occur in the beginning

netic order in perovskite-type manganese

years, and we are now in the second year ofof the next century, when national institutesoxides, can be induced by a magnetic field,

Phase II. In March 1997, a report on thewill be turned into independent agencies.

an electric field, or light irradiation. Quite

pre-intermediate assessment of the R&D

The participants in this experiment therefore

recently, Kawasaki et al. of the same group

work completed in the first 5 years of thehave a responsibility for conveying the story

discovered chain-type antiferromagnetic in-

Atom Technology Project was issued by anof JRCAT to the coming generation so thatsulator, ferromagnetic metal, and layer-type

outside review committee of external spe-

the results may be utilized effectively in theantiferromagnetic metal phases in epitaxialcialists. The project was evaluated with re-future.

La1-xSrxMnO3 thin films grown on perovskite

spect to the planning, direction, and man-substrates with different lattice parameters.

agement, as well as scientific and techno-ReferenceThis strain-induced orbital-ordering transition

logical achievements. In particular, the NAIR-

Atom technology project : recent activities :K.

has been studied by Fang and Terakura ofJRCAT concept was seen as a pioneering at-Tanaka, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 16, 3127 (1998).

JRCAT as a function of the lattice-constanttempt to promote industrial-governmental-

ratio (c/a) and doping (x), from the stand-academic research cooperation. The inten-Kazunobu Tanaka

point of calculations from first-principles; thesive joint research in which academic, gov-

Joint Research Center for Atom Technology

calculations agree well with the experimen-

ernment and industrial scientists are en-(JRCAT)tal results.

gaged, greatly encouraged face-to-face con-

1-1-4 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0046

tact, is producing a free and open atmo-

E-mail: tanaka@jrcat.or.jp

In this way, experiment and theoryJSAP International No.1 (January 2000)

JSAPI*

Page 2101.3.19, 1:26 PM

Adobe PageMaker 6.5J/PPC21